It is understood the commission is concerned that Meta’s moderation system is not robust enough to counter balance the potential proliferation of fake news and attempts to suppress voting.
The Financial Times reported that officials are particularly worried about the way Meta’s platforms are handling Russia’s efforts to undermine upcoming European elections, although it will stop short of citing the Kremlin in proceedings.
Reports suggest that the commission is particularly concerned over Meta’s plan to discontinue CrowdTangle, a public insights tool that allows real-time disinformation researchers, journalists and others across the EU to monitor the spread of fake news and attempts to suppress voting.
The Belgian prime minister also recently revealed the federal prosecutor had opened an investigation into alleged payments of MEPs by Russia with a view to electing more pro-Russian deputies to the European parliament.
If the move on Meta is confirmed it will come just days after the commission carried out stress tests on all the big social media platforms to determine whether there were adequate safeguards in place against Russian disinformation.
The European parliament on Monday released tips to voters with a list of previous incidents, including claims that only pens with certain coloured ink will be accepted on ballot papers.
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